The scriptures described a conversation that Jesus had with the Pharisees, about the coming of the Kingdom of God in this way:
“Now when He was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, He answered them and said, “The kingdom of God does not come with observation; nor will they say, ‘See here!’ or ‘See there!’ For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you.”
Luke 17:20-21 NKJV
Jesus made it plain here that God’s Kingdom does not come in physical manifestation; but it’s spiritual. Therefore it cannot be experienced with human feelings or seen with human eyes. The religious people in asking Him this question, were seeking for something in physical manifestation that they could identify with.
But they were wrong, just as many people today are wrong about the same thing. They are seeking for something else apart from faith in the name of Jesus, to validate themselves before the world.
This is why they are struggling to accept Jesus as the Messiah today. People are getting more and more interested in justifying themselves before the world, instead of allowing God to justify them by faith.
God’s Kingdom is spiritual, and the kingdom of darkness is also spiritual. While God’s Kingdom is being advanced with the exercise of our faith on the earth; the kingdom of darkness is also being advanced by the devil with fear.
As Jesus pointed out in the above scripture text, God’s Kingdom is within the heart of those who believes in Him. In the same manner the kingdom of darkness is within the hearts of those, who are ascribing to the fear of the devil.
The Bible says:
“Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.”
Genesis 6:5 NKJV
Wickedness had been in the heart of men from the fall of Adam. Jesus came as the new Adam to change this for us.
Instead of wickedness manifesting itself with sicknesses and diseases; Jesus by His stripes brought us healing. Instead of wickedness manifesting itself with bondages in the lives of the people; Jesus shed His blood on the cross at Calvary for our deliverance.
And in advancing His Kingdom on the earth, every believer in His name has been called to cast out demons and to heal the sick also (Mark 16:17-18).
The work of God’s Kingdom on the earth cannot advance without the casting out of demons and the healing of the sick. These are distinctive signs that sets us apart as Christians, from the children of darkness on the earth.
It’s however not strange that the Pharisees had accused Jesus of casting out demons, with the power of the devil. They had never seen such things in their times. Jesus therefore had responded to their concerns with these words:
“But if I cast out demons with the finger of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you.”
Luke 11:20 NKJV
The purpose of casting out demons is for the establishment of the Kingdom of God, as the replacement for the Kingdom of the devil on the earth. It is a spiritual Kingdom that exists in the hearts of those who believes in Jesus Christ.
We are therefore involved in a spiritual warfare against the kingdom of the devil. It is not a warfare against flesh and blood (2 Corinthians 10:3).
When we are casting out the devil and his demonic spirits, it’s important to be focusing immediately on establishing God’s Kingdom in the lives of people, so as to occupy the vacuum that is being created by the absence of the devil and his demons, with the Spirit of God and His word.
And this can only be possible through discipleship. Jesus called us to make disciples of new converts. They are never to be left alone without being taught, about how to navigate their pathway into spiritual prosperity.
If this is not being done, it will create a spiritual vacuum in the lives of those who are being delivered, which may end up being filled by more demonic spirits, than the ones that are casted out (Matthew 12:43-45).
Newest Christian is stronger than the strongest demon
We cast out demons with our God’s given authority in the name of Jesus, and in the power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus said:
“ .. I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you.”
Luke 10:18-19 NKJV
It’s important to note that Jesus had said this to the seventy disciples, who were sent out by Him. He was not speaking to the original twelve disciples who later became Apostles.
Some of these seventy disciples were the newest converts who were following Him. They did exactly what Jesus had commanded them to do.
We must always be led by the Holy Spirit in dealing with demonic spirits. There are certain demons that will flee, when they see the light of Christ shining through our hearts as Christians. They will flee with the release of the authority in the name of Jesus.
This was how some demonic spirits reacted when they saw Jesus in the synagogue on one occasion:
“Now there was a man in their synagogue with an unclean spirit. And he cried out, saying, “Let us alone! What have we to do with You, Jesus of Nazareth? Did You come to destroy us? I know who You are—the Holy One of God!”
Mark 1:23-24 NKJV
Someone may say: “Oh, that’s Jesus! Of course the demons do know Him”.
But the scriptures also said about certain sons of Sceva, who would today had been the sons of the Pastor of a Church, in their encounter with an evil spirit. The demonic spirit knew them also. He really made a distinction between them and those who were really devoted to God. Being related to the Pastor never helped these young men.
One day these sons of Sceva had wanted to do, what they had seen Church people do in casting out demons. But the demonic spirit reacted differently towards them.
The scriptures says:
“And the evil spirit answered and said, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are you?” Then the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, overpowered them, and prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded. This became known both to all Jews and Greeks dwelling in Ephesus; and fear fell on them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified. And many who had believed came confessing and telling their deeds.”
Acts 19:15-18 NKJV
It’s not surprising that the gathering of God’s people is the place, where you will often see demonic spirits in action. They were there whenever Jesus went into the synagogue. They were there whenever the early Church gathered together, to worship the Lord and study the scriptures. They will be there in any Church today, wherever God’s people are gathering to worship and listen to God’s word.
However the Holy Spirit knows what we don’t know about them. He is the best Teacher who can instruct us on how to deal with them. When we are inclining our ears to listen to Him, He will show us and tell us what to do in every situation.
This is how we do havoc to the powers of darkness and their demonic forces. As the Holy Spirit leads and guides us, He will take us into the realm of the spirit in dealing with them. He wants us to see what we are being confronted with, so that we don’t fight against them, like a person who is beating the air (1 Corinthians 9:26).
And in most cases He will only expose their activities to us. He however does expects us to use our authority in the name of Jesus to cast them out.
The moment when He does this is when His light shines for us in the darkness, so that we can see through the dark and thereafter navigate our pathway into victory.
Job said:
“When His lamp shone upon my head, And when by His light I walked through darkness;”
Job 29:3 NKJV
It’s God’s light that shines through our hearts as we are seeing in the spirit, what we are being confronted with. His light shows us the pathway into victory. And we use it to navigate our path through the darkness of this world. Job walked through the darkness as God’s light shone upon his head, in showing him the pathway out of it.
Those glimpses into the realm of the spirit are meant for us, to become better and more effective soldiers for Christ in our spiritual warfare. God will never reveal things to you for nothing. He expects you to do something about it.
The Lord God wants us to use our faith in dislodging the enemy and his activities in the spirit realm. He will therefore allow us to see what the wicked are doing in the darkness of this world, so that we can be able to stand up against them forcefully and effectively.
God wants us to have certain knowledge about the works of the rulers of the darkness of this world, so that we can be better spiritually equipped in confronting them.
In most cases the Holy Spirit will give a word of knowledge or a word of wisdom to us, so that we can act on it in dealing with any particular situation. There is nothing that the devil does which should ever be a mystery to the child of God, who is filled with the Holy Ghost.
Even though the devil is the master strategist of all evils; but the Holy Ghost is in us to expose his strategies to us.
His main strategy against God’s people is in the misinterpretation of God’s word, so that God’s people may become rebellious against God.
This was what he did against David by moving him to do a census of the inheritance of the Lord (Israel). David never followed the Lord God’s laid out instructions about conducting a census of His people (Exodus 30:11-16).
This opened the door for the enemy to attack God’s people with a plague in which seventy thousand people died (2 Samuel 24:15).
Rebellion always brings darkness
There are a lot of Christians today who are treating God’s word lightly. And they are suffering the consequences of their actions of disobedience. If the devil could use God’s word to tempt Jesus, he will use it against anyone today also.
We must however acknowledge that there is no born again Christian, who will deliberately walk in disobedience to God’s word. In several instances it is the devil who is ensnaring them to sin against God.
Even though they might have sinned against God, the Lord had already made provision through His blood for their sins to be atoned (1 John 1:8-10).
When king Saul rebelled against God’s command, a total darkness came upon him from the Lord. Even though he was anointed by God there was an evil spirit in the darkness, that the devil had used to torment him.
Rebellion opened the door for this situation in his life. He was told by the Lord through the Prophet Samuel:
“For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, And stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, He also has rejected you from being king.”
I Samuel 15:23 NKJV
His unrepentant attitude towards rebellion eventually led him to commit suicide. The spirit of rebellion will always lead people to commit suicide. That’s why obedience to God’s word must be taught over and over again from the pulpit.
This was how Saul ended his life while he was fighting against the Philistines. Nobody killed him. He took his own life. The scriptures says:
“The battle became fierce against Saul. The archers hit him, and he was wounded by the archers. Then Saul said to his armorbearer, “Draw your sword, and thrust me through with it, lest these uncircumcised men come and abuse me.” But his armorbearer would not, for he was greatly afraid. Therefore Saul took a sword and fell on it.”
I Chronicles 10:3-4 NKJV
He fell on his own sword and died. His rebellion was finally judged, as the evil spirit in him led him to his death. The outcome would had been different if he had repented of his rebellion.
The Bible says:
“So Saul died for his unfaithfulness which he had committed against the Lord, because he did not keep the word of the Lord, and also because he consulted a medium for guidance. But he did not inquire of the Lord; therefore He killed him, and turned the kingdom over to David the son of Jesse.”
I Chronicles 10:13-14 NKJV
The same thing happened to Judas Iscariot, who had also betrayed Jesus. He committed suicide by hanging himself:
“Then Judas, His betrayer, seeing that He had been condemned, was remorseful and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, saying, “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.” And they said, “What is that to us? You see to it!” Then he threw down the pieces of silver in the temple and departed, and went and hanged himself.”
Matthew 27:3-5 NKJV
Being remorseful is not the same thing as being repentant. There are a lot of people today in the world, who are remorseful about their sins, but they have not repented of such sins. This was exactly what Judas Iscariot did. He was remorseful, but never repented of his sin of betrayal to Jesus. The rebellion in him caused him to eventually commit suicide.
This is what rebellion against God’s word does to the people, who are deliberately disobeying Him today. When people are saying that they are having suicidal thoughts, it’s very important to find out what they have done in disobedience to God.
If they will acknowledge it as sin, they can repent of it. In certain cases that I had personally witnessed, the suicidal thoughts will go away once they have repented of their sins. However it’s important for those who have repented to be properly discipled, so that something worse does not happen to them again.
Rebellion as personified in the scriptures
The Prophet Zechariah in his writings painted a vivid image of rebellion as we have in our world today. Zechariah chapter 5:5-11 is a personification of the rebellious spirit that has plagued the earth today.
It is wickedness that is personified by the image of a woman in a basket. This is the image of the bride to the anti Christ on the earth today.
The bride to the anti Christ is making herself ready for the coming of the anti Christ; just as the Bride of Jesus Christ is making Herself ready also. It is the image of a woman who was acting like a whore or a prostitute, as we are seeing on the earth today.
The public display of sexual sins on the earth today, is the projection of the image of the bride to the anti Christ. Just as the Church of Jesus Christ as His Bride, is proclaiming the gospel in the demonstration of God’s power, the bride to the anti Christ is projecting her own image also. Even though he (the anti Christ) is yet to be revealed.
We are seeing his bride getting herself ready for him, just as the Church is getting ready for Her Bridegroom (Jesus Christ).
It’s important to note the description of the extent of this woman’s influence with her wickedness, as mentioned by the Prophet Zachariah, who had written about the dialogue which had ensued between him and the angel of the Lord:
“So I asked, “What is it?” And he said, “It is a basket that is going forth.” He also said, “This is their resemblance throughout the earth: So I said to the angel who talked with me, “Where are they carrying the basket?” And he said to me, “To build a house for it in the land of Shinar; when it is ready, the basket will be set there on its base.”
Zechariah 5:6, 10-11 NKJV
We can see the response of the angel to the question that Zechariah had asked, so as to understand the vision that he had been given. The angel had responded that the image of the woman, is a reflection of what is going to happen throughout the earth. And we are seeing it these days in the form of all kinds of sexual sins.
It is a worldwide influence that is personified by a woman, which will eventually have its headquarters at Babylon (Shinar), where a temple will be built to worship her.
As Christians we do know that Babylon will be the headquarter of all sexual sins, from where they will spread to all the earth.
There is nothing strange that the devil is doing today that comes as a surprise to God’s people. God’s word had forewarned us about such happenings on the earth.
The image of this woman will eventually become an idol, that many will start to worship at Babylon where her temple will be erected. And we can see it happening these days in the glorification of sexual sins around the world.
The job of this woman in the basket is to stand in the way of the people of God, with their anointing to save the lost, to heal the sick and to deliver those who are suffering under the yoke of the devil.
Her job is to make sure that those who have been anointed by God on the earth, do not function with their anointing. That’s her primary goal with the spread of these sexual sins into the lives of children and adults on the earth today.
She will be enthroned in Babylon, and from there her image will spread across the world. She will harass and intimidate Christians worldwide. She is doing this to prevent Christians from taking the gospel of Jesus Christ to the end of the earth, in the demonstration of the power of the Holy Spirit.
This woman was later revealed to John on the island of Patmos in Revelation chapters 17 and 18. The glorification of sexual sins, as an image of worship is a sign of the end times.
The Church must be prepared, because this means that the Lord is about to pour out a greater anointing of His Spirit, upon His Body for the end time harvest.
Some will be anointed by the Lord to stop this image of the woman, by healing those who are being afflicted with these evils. They will receive supernatural anointing for creative miracles, in replacing the body parts that these sexual sins are creating in many lives. People with missing body parts will find them restored by the power of God.
This special anointing is coming upon those who are making themselves ready, for the return of the Lord Jesus Christ through prayer and intercession. They will stop this image of the “woman in the basket” (Zechariah 5:7) and “upon many waters” (Revelation 17:1-2). They will win many souls into the Kingdom of God.
What the image of the woman is doing right now, will not and cannot stop us from achieving the goal that our Lord Jesus Christ had set out before us as Christians.
How prepared are you for what the Lord is doing? Are you getting yourself ready for what is about to happen worldwide?
The Prophet described it with these words:
“Put in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe.
Come, go down;
For the winepress is full,
The vats overflow—
For their wickedness is great.”
Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision!
For the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision.
The sun and moon will grow dark,
And the stars will diminish their brightness”.
Joel 3:13-15 NKJV
The darkness that’s being manifested in the form of sexual sins on the earth these days, has to prelude the great harvest of the Lord.
Don’t get complacent about what is going on in the world today. Jesus Christ is coming back again. Wake up! Be watchful and prayerful.
Get yourself involved. Be prayerful more than ever before. Something beautiful is about to break forth on the earth from the Father above.
We are unstoppable. The goal of taking the gospel of Jesus Christ to the end of the earth will be achieved. And the devil will fail woefully.
We will continue to be unhindered by what he is doing. We will continue to save the lost, cast out the demons and heal the sick.
This call of God is more important than anything else on the earth today. Wake up brethren! The Bride of Christ must be prepared through prayer and intercession.
And as Jesus said to the Pharisees who had come to warn Him to flee, because of the persecution by Herod; His very words is our answer to the forces of darkness on the earth today:
.. “Go, tell that fox, ‘Behold, I (we) cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I (we) shall be perfected.’”
Luke 13:32 NKJV
We are unstoppable. The devil can throw his biggest shot at the Body of Christ Jesus. Our God is always on our side. He had never failed, and He will never fail. We will win, and the image of the woman that’s now spreading worldwide will be finally judged.
The scripture says about her judgment:
“Therefore her plagues will come in one day—death and mourning and famine. And she will be utterly burned with fire, for strong is the Lord God who judges her.”
Revelation 18:8 NKJV